Sunday, 24 January 2016

Exploratory Testing and Business Values Delivered

A gradual
increase is being noted in the number of businesses switching from scripted
testing to exploratory testing. The conventional scripted testing approach requires
the active test cases to be designed in advance, with clearly defined processes
and expected results. The predesigned tests are used by testers to compare the
actual test results with expected results. So the testers must be provided with
adequate information to execute the tests and interpret the test results
effectively.

But exploratory
testing approach emphasizes on concurrent test designing and execution. It
further requires businesses to deploy skilled software testers, and allows
testers to become more imaginative and exploratory. While performing
exploratory testing, the QA professionals have autonomy to decide what tests to
perform next, and how to prioritize tests due to time constraints. So a
business can avail a number of benefits by adopting the modern software testing
approach.

What Makes
Businesses Switch from Scripted Testing to Exploratory Testing?

Defects are Found Quickly

The predesigned
test scripts restrict professionals’ imagination and creativity. When the
testers have adequate information about the software to be tested and use the
predesigned test scripts, they do not come up with fresh and innovative ideas.
Exploratory testing requires them to design and execute tests concurrently. So
they can learn and improve continuously, while coming up with new ideas and
innovative ways to solve problems.

Accommodate Individual Testing Approaches

Exploratory
testing approach requires enterprises to deploy skilled and experienced QA professionals. So each tester can analyze the specific problem in a particular
way. The members of the team can further suggest various ways to test a
particular feature or functionality of the software. So the same aspect of the application can be
tested in a number of ways. The different approaches effectuate testing, and
help testers to identify all flaws in the software.

Allow Testers to Control the Testing Process

The scripted
testing approach differentiates the process of test design and test execution.
So an enterprise has option to deploy different teams to design and execute
tests. Also, the testers need adequate product information and detailed
business requirements to execute the tests effectively. So the testers fail to
execute tests if the test cases are not designed in advance or they are not
familiar with the application. But exploratory testing enables testers to
design and execute tests concurrently. They can easily gather the required
information, and design and test cases in each situation.

Freedom to Follow Leads

Nowadays testers
have to test all aspects of the software within a shorter amount of time. So
they find it daunting to read, understand and execute predesigned test scripts.
Most modern testers prefer designing and executing tests in parallel without
referring to any predesigned test cases. Further, they want to deploy the
limited time in finding bugs instead of reading and understanding test cases.
The absence of predefined constraints further enables testers to identify bugs
in the software by following all promising leads.

Many businesses
nowadays adopt agile methodology to reduce software testing time and cost
significantly. But the delivery cycles in agile project is extremely short.
Further, the developers and testers have to collaborate with each other deliver
a flawless software application. So the businesses are no longer required to
deploy skilled professionals to make test plans, design test cases, and manage
defects in the software. When a business adopts exploratory testing approach,
it becomes easier for it to design and execute test cases concurrently without
deploying any additional professionals. So exploratory testing helps businesses
to reap benefits of agile project management methodologies.

On the whole,
the exploratory testing approach is completely different from conventional
scripted testing approach. But companies like Microsoft have proved that both testing
approaches are compatible with each other, and can also be used on a single
project. So a business has option to either adopt exploratory testing model or
use both testing models simultaneously.